Page 56 of Royally Matched

A few minutes, and a lot of hand shaking and pleasantries by Sofia, later, we are safely ensconced in her crown car, and she asks the driver to lift the privacy screen.

She folds her hands primly in her lap and turns to me. “It’s good to see you in a suit today, rather than your wellington boots, Marco.”

I glance down at the suit Enzo bought me. “I think it might be disrespectful to turn up on a day like today in my gardening clothes, although I would be more than happy to change if that’s what you’d prefer?” I tease as I begin to pull my blazer from my shoulders.

“No!” she replies, startled.

I flash her my grin, enjoying the effect my teasing has on her.

I know I shouldn’t but I do.

Sue me.

“I’ll stick with the suit, then.”

She swallows. “What did you need to talk to me about?”

“I’ve had another verse sent to me to add to the puzzle.”

Her reaction surprises me. “Do you have it with you? Oh, what am I saying? Of course, you don’t have it here at—” She stops midsentence when I pull the folded sheets from my blazer pocket.

“I thought you’d written this off as anti-royalist nonsense,” I say.

“It may very well be, but I’ll admit, it has played on my mind since you shared the first riddle.”

“You and me both.” I unfold the paper and hold it up for both of us to see. She shifts in her seat, and I catch her scent in the air, an enticing combination of a cool breeze on a spring morning, with hints of citrus and fresh flowers. So very Sofia.

I watch her face as her eyes skim the page, her long dark lashes curled upward. Her pillowy lips are parted in concentration, and I’m forced to fight the urge to reach out and touch the soft skin of her cheek, tilting her face toward mine.

She pulls her brows together. “‘Hidden doors and passage tight?’ ‘A scroll of royal lore?’ What can that mean?”

“Taking the first part of the original riddle into consideration, I think what we have on our hands is a classic quest,Principessa,” I reply, using the Italian word for princess.

Her eyes flash immediately to mine, and I second guess my boldness.

“Sorry. I got carried away.”

“No, I… I like it.” She holds my gaze, her dark eyes like polished mahogany, glistening and rich.

“All right.Principessait is.”

She pulls her gaze away, pressing her lips together. “A quest, you say?”

“You know, like Harry Potter or Indiana Jones?”

“OrThe Princess Bride,” she offers.

“Or Nemo.”

She laughs. “Nemo.”

“But this quest won’t be movie length. We’ve got all the clues we need right here. I think whoever sent this to me wants us to go on a quest to solve the puzzle.”

“You and me?” she asks, her voice breathy, and I nod. “But why?”

“I have a theory. This part, ‘in the library’s hidden nook—’” I say as I point at the riddle, “—suggests there’s something to be found in the palace library. That’s clue number one. Then when it goes on to say, ‘beneath the throne, where shadows lie,’ that’s the second clue. Combine that with having to navigate a tight passage through a hidden door and I think there might be some tunnels under the palace where this scroll is hidden. Which one of us has access to all these places? Certainly not me. That’s where you come in.”

I don’t mention the fact I’m almost certain Amelia is behind the riddle. Think about it. Amelia was the one who came up with a plan for us to find soulmates for both Enzo and Sofia. She then turns up at the garden party with a woman who could quite possibly be Enzo’s perfect match, introduces them, and then lets nature take its course. I of course bring no one to the garden party because I’ve come to the conclusion that her plan is too harebrained to work, which she seems happy about because—and this is where I took a leap—she thinks I’m Sofia’s soulmate.

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